Tobacco Documents Online

Dr. Leake is retiring board chairman of The America.n Association for The Advancement of Science and President of the American Society for Experimental Bio]logy a.nd Medicine. SUNDAY GAZETTE-MAIL Charleston, West Uirginia. December 10, 1961 _ .. COORDINATION 11TEEDED but nothing more. Then i he learn• ed that the Soviet scientists cross• [`{ • • ~ • • + -led the lines separating o n e ,\~],ej'~ ~~5t(~ /.~~'}'] L'~* y~ /'yiscience from the next by callin~, 1V s~ d dr a t7 1 J p 1 it W w~'[rL~ veterinarians into the picture { L~ l d~ C~~ ~~C i~ ryv~.ir bee espeeiallg watchful for lung', •tr ~•{r eaacer amoat; the do s cats Throughout' the Soviet Union, -- n veterinarians were directed tq , By ~ David M. Cleary One of the troubles with Ameri' cam scientists is that' they limit. their fields of endeavor too strict- ly,; according to the board chair- man of the Arnerican Association for the Advancement of Scence. "The physicists r e a d' the physics journals, and I hobnob with other physicists at frequent , meetings, but they're not curious I enough about what's going on i in the chemistry, bacteriology, and astronomy laboratories," complains 'Dr. Chauncey D. Leake of Ohio State University. Dr. Leake; a pharmacologist, practices what! he preaches. His interests range from astronomy to zoology, and he's . simul- taneousiy a student of engineer- in;, the arts, and languages. He's also serving this year as pnesi- dent of the American Society for Ezperimentali Biology and Medi- cine. _ • . . "THE RUSSIANS coordinate ' their scientific inquiries b e t t e r than we do," said Dr. L e a k e r n u u. e a is obiles may be a factor;,the Rus- , g. . and farm animals they treated,. Those two factors make t b e reporting every case they found, consumption of tobacco in R us- After reports had been obtain• sia very small compared wtih the ed, during a specifded period, IJnited' States. Since • the, two they were nnalyzed by epidemio- countries have approximately the, lbgists. same lung cancer rate, there rnustl The result was significant, at be other factors at play,,, the Rus- least to the Russians. They found sian scientists reasonl •~the geographical paftern of lung cancer in animals closely parall- AIR Pt2LLUT1t)1~1~ or "smog,"jcled that in humans - most com+ is under greater suspicion by the mon inl the cities and along, main Russians. And they think the rub- highways, and almost' unknown ia ber particles ini the air - put remote villages where motor ve. there as hundreds of tons of rub. hicles seldom penettate, ber are worn off the tires of mo. ••• tor vehicles every year - are a"WHE~`HER THE Russians ara major element ini the lung can- right in pointing an accusing fink cer problem. ger at rubber isn't the point.""' Russian epidemilogfsts reach said' Dr. Leake. "They haven't this conclusion logically. The produced any direct proof' of ;a' factory chimneys of R'u s s f la cause - and effect relationship, no are all~ equipped' with filters more than our investigators ha.e. which trap virtually all the But they did do something we s o i ild, "sooty"' particles ob didn't think of; they called tha I smoke. Dark smoke from fac- eterinarians into the investiga* tories just isn't seen behind ~.he ion and thereby broadened their Iron Curtain, and this source base of inquiry." ' or air pouunon can iargety be This is the sort of' inter-science I ruled out. ~COOrdinat6on that is all too rare i F.4hanetfnmac frnrr,~ntu. nc`-n intierviEw last~ Jr•• ""' °°." "'' "`°°°. ~ Q l d weeh• To iliustrate his pomt, helsians feel, but only ai small one: described Russian attempts to solve the mystery of lung can- cer„ as observed during a t r i p to Russia last year. There is just a8aut as much lun6 cancer ini Russia as in the United States, Dr. Leake told me, but the Russians don't blame tobacco for it. Russian cigaretttes containionly a small amount of tobacco at the end of a tube of paper. More im- portant, Russian cinarettes are so expensive that few people can afford themi . . <_ ..-., ,_ Private cars are a rarity;,,although, trucks are fairly numerous. Epidemiological studies in Rus• sia show that lung cancer strikes most frequently in larqe c i t i e s and in, the rural areas alongg heavilty travelled hip,hways. This would appear to implicate motor. vehicles in some way, and! t h q, rubber from tires is under close scrutiny. • . r. . UP TO THAT point, saidi Dr. Leake, he considered the R u s• siarr theory an interesting ore. .r.J:. " . .. . ... . ... ' ~'i~